Hollow wall tile and structures made therefrom



United States Patent HOLLOW WALL TILE AND STRUCTURES MADE THEREFROM Philip E. Kopp, Ridgeleigh Drive, Minerva, Ohio Filed Feb. 4, 1958, Ser. No. 713,238

1 Claim. (Cl. 50-262) This invention relates to a hollow wall tile.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a hollow wall tile which may -be used to form a wall or partition having a plurality of openings therethrough.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a hollow wall tile which may be forrned from an extruded shape.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a hollow Wall tile having irregularly shaped end sections eonforming to a pattern so that a plurality of said tiles, when laid in 'a row side by side, carry out a unilforrn, unbroken, basket weave effect.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a plurality of hollow tiles having an irregular end configuration on one of its ends and a fiat even configuration on its opposite end land arranged to be laid in parallel rows against a smooth Vertical wall surface to form an over-all basket weave design on the surface of said wall.

The hollow wall tile disclosed herein comprises an improvement in the art of structural tiles and particularly those used :for the formation of partitions, railingsi, ornamental walls, decorative walls and the like.

In the past cerarnic building units have been used in various constructions Vand attempts have been made to decorate one or two surfaces of the cerarnic units so that the resulting wall or other construction would have a finished look. Such cerarnic units as known in the art include various forms and shapes of brick, some of which have been -glazed, and various forrns and shapes of tile, some of which have been glazed. In every instance the units Were solid units :and such openings as incidentally appeared therein were usually core areas.

The hollow Wall tile disclosed herein not only forms a satisfactory structural building unit, but in addition provides a most attractive and unusual wall treatment in that the ends of the hollow tiles are irregularly shaped, according to a uniforrn pattern, 'so that a plurality of such tiles assembled into a Wall in parallel, horizontal and Vertical rows create a lattice-like effect with the illusion that the. components have been interwoven.

The novelty in the disclosure resides in the formation of the hollow wall tile and particularly the ends thereof, each of which defines a reverse eurve terminating in oifset relation to the ends of the adjacent portions of the tile. With the foregoingiand other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the com-bination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being the intention to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute depaxtures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the hollow wall tile.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a portion of a wall formed from a plurality of tiles shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a decorative panel applied to la fiat wall surface, the decorative panel being formed of a plurality of half sections of the tile shown in Figure 1.

By referring to the drawing and Figure l in particular it will be seen that a hollow wall tile has been disclosed which comprises a horizontal bottom portion 10, a horizontal top portion v11 spaced thereabove and a par of spaced right and left side portons 12 and 13, respectively, the said sections being of unitary structure as occasioned by the formation of the tile by extruding the same as iS known in the art.

The bottom, top and side walls define an open passageway 14 which is cross sectionally square and which extends completely through the Wall tile.

For the purpose of this disclosure and description, the right hand end of the tile in Figure l of the drawing will be termed the forward end and the left hand end will be termed the rearward end. It will therefore be seen that the forward end of the bottom port-ion 10 of the tile comprises a Vertical surface 15 of uniform height which defines a reverse curve extendng from a point or contact 16 with the side 12 forwardly, the first portion of the curve being concave and the latter portion being convex and terminating at a point 17 even With the outerrnost surface of the left side 1.3 of the tile `and in forwardly spaced relation from the side 13.

It will be observed that the forward edge of the top 11 comprises tan oppositely formed shape with respect to the surface 15, just described, as the forward surface 18 of the top 11 starts at its right hand end flush with the outer surface of the side 12 at a point 19, curves inwardly in a convex curve and then reverses and defines a concave eurve terminating at a point 20' against the i-nncr surface of the left side 13 and spaced inwardly from the forward edge thereof.

The forward surface 21 of the side 12 starts at a point inwardly on the top 11 adjacent the lower or inner surface thereof and curves outwardly and downwardly in a concave curve which reverses approximately halfway along the surface 21 land continues downwardly ona convex curve and terminates at a point 2.2 even with the lower-most surface of the bottom 10.

The forward surface 23 of the side 13 starts at a point 24 even with the uppermost surface of the top 11 and extends downwardly and inwardly on -a convex curve and then reverses and then continues downwardly on Ia concave curve and terminates at a point 25 even with the upper surface of the bottom 10.

It will be observed that the upper end of the surface 23 on the side 13 lis spaced outwardly with respect to the comparable surface 18 on the forward edge of the top 11, while the upper end of the surface 21 is spaced inwardly with respect to the forward surface 18 of the top 11. The lo-wer end of the forward surface 21 of the side 12 is spaced outwardly with respect to the adjacent end of the Vertical surface 15 forming'the forward edge of the bottom 111. It will be seen that the outerrnost end of the Vertical surface 15 forming theforward edge of the bottom 19 terminates at the point`` 17 in spaced relation to the lower end of the forward surface 23 of the side 13.

The opposite end, or left end, of the 'tile shown in Figure 1 of the drawing, is formed with the exact configuration as may be seen by observing that the upper left hand corner of the side 13 proje^ts outwardly ias at 26 beyond the -aj-acent left hand end or edge of the top 11, as indicated at 27, While the lower left corner of the side 13 terminates at a point 28 inwardly of the adjacent outer end of the bottom 10.

The back corner of the tile in Figure 1 of the drawing, not seen in the Perspective view, is a shape comparable with the forward edge of the side =12 which includes the surface 21, heretofore described, except that it is arranged in oppositely-,disposed relation so that the back lower corner of the'side 12 terminates outwardly beyond thel left-,edge of the bottom while the upper corner thereof terminates inwardly of the back left corner of the top 11.

The Surfaces 15, 23, '18 and 21 on the forward end of the tilerin Figure 1 of the drawing as well as their oppositely dsposed surfaces on the rearward end of the tile a-re formed immediately after the hollow tile is extruded and the elongated tubular section severed from the extruded portion.

The shoping preferably done by engaging the extruded shape against an appropriate die vwhich imparts the configuration to the end of the tile, vas just described, While simultaneously a reverse die imparts the opposite configuration to the other end of the tile. It ywill be obv-ious that the length of the tile between the end sections is a matter of choice.V

It will be observed by those skilled in the art that the tile may alternately be formed with one end, las, for instance, the right or forward end :in Figure 1 of the drawing, and the' other end simply cut squa-re on a uniform Vertical plane.

By` referring now to Figure 2, of the `drawing a section of a wall, partition or other comparable structure may be seen asbeng formed of aplurality of tiles as heretofore described and shown in Figure 1 of the awing.

In Figure 2 of the drawing a lower row of three of the tiles carries two superimposed rolls thereabove so that the tiles in Figure 2 of the `d-rawing are arranged in three parallel horizontal rows as well as three parallel Vertical rows. Each tile is turned end to end with respect to 'its adj'acent tile so that the right side 12 of the-'first tile, as seen in the lower left corner of Figure 2, is limmediately adjacent the side 12 of the second tile, while the side 13 of the next tile is un-mediateiy adjacent the side 13 of the third tile.

The Vertical stacking is arranged in the same rnanner so that the top 11 of the first tile is immediately adjacent the inverted top 11 of the tile immediately thereabove,.while the nverted bottom 10 of the second tile is immediately adjacent the bottom 10 of the third tile.

When Ia plurality of tiles are laid up in the manner illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawings, preferably with ings extending transversely thereof is formed and the edges of the tiles defining the openings line up in pairs while the edges in the plurality of tiles define a basket weave pattern.

In Figure 3 of the drawing -a wall 29 having a flat Vertical surface is disclosed and Ia plurality of modified hollow tiles are positioned in a pattern on the surface of the wall 29, each of the tiles in the modified arrangement having a back surface on a common Vertical plane 30, while their front surfaces comprise duplicates of the front surfaces of the tiles shown in Figures 1 land 2 Vand heretofore described.

The upper left shortened tile in the panel shown in Figure 3 of the drawing has a top 31, bottom 32 and right and left sides 33v and 34, respectively, the rearward or left hand end of the tile having straight end surfaces 35-35 while the front surface of the forward end of the top 31 defines Llan S-shaped curve start-ing from a forward point 36 at the widest edge of the top 31 and curving inwardly to a point 37 to define the narrowest portion of the top 35.

The bottom 32 is an exact opposite shape and the side 34 is wider at its top with the forward lend defining an 'mortan as is customary, a wall with a plurality of openv inwardly and downwardly curving surface which terminates adjacent the widest portion of the bottom 32. The block adjacent thereto, lin Figure 3 of the draW-ing, is a reverse shape made, for example, by cutting the block of Figure 1 in half.

It will thus be seen that a `hollow wall tile has been disclosed which may be used to form structunal walls, partitions, railings and the like which are larger, open work in configuration and wherein the edges of the tiles Iare 1arranged'so that by inverting or turning every other tile end for end, the edges produce a basket weave effect.

I-t will thus be seen that the hollow wall tile disfclosed herein meets the several objects of the invention. It will be observed that the configuration of the ends of each of the bottom and side Walls of the hollow wall tile is ya matter of design choice which'may include shapes other th'an the reverse curves specified herein, for example each top, bottom and side wall may be of keystone. Shape or other an'gular or beveled shape, as

desired.

Having thus described my' invention, what I claim A wall structure compn'sing a plurality of wall tiles, each of which is a unitary structure 'having top, bottom and side walls, 'and wherein said top and bottom walls are spaced vertically with respect to one another and said side walls are spaced horizontally with respect to one another, and lall together define an open passageway through said wall tile from the front to the back thereof, eachof said wall tiles having said top, bottom and side walls' thereof formed in a keystone Shape, the Smaller end of each of which is positioned adjacent the larger end of the side of the adjacent Wall part, each of said` wall' tiles in said wall structure being positioned in side by side arrangement in several vsuperimposed horizontal rows, and wherein each of said tiles in each of said horizontal rows is directly above a tile in 'the row therebelow and is positioned in reverse relation thereto, and wherein each of said tiles in each of said horizontal rows is positioned'in reversed relation to the tile adjacent thcreto whereby the ends of the tiles in the wall structure appear to be interwoven one through the other in a loose basket weave.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 185,004 Kopp Apr. 28, 1959 194,250 Krackowizer et al. Aug. 14, 1877 2,129,3`69 Faberv Sept. 6, 1938 2,27L030 Palanti Ian. 27, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS j v 510,421 Canada of'1955 

